A Characterization of the MSA Stone Artefact Assemblage from the 1984 Excavations at Klein Kliphuis, Western Cape

Abstract

INTRODUCTION The primary objective of this paper is to present a characterization of the Middle Stone Age assemblage from the site of Klein Kliphuis (KKH) in the Western Cape (Fig. 1). KKH was excavated in 1984 by a team from the South African Museum (now part of Iziko Museums of Cape Town). The excavation was to form part of a larger regional project looking at the nature and distribution of Later Stone Age (LSA) huntergatherer and herder sites. During the course of the excavation a single 1 m × 1 m square was excavated below the perceived end of the LSA, into what were presumed to be Middle Stone Age (MSA) artefact-bearing layers. The excavator’s original division between the LSA and MSA layers of Klein Kliphuis is retained here as a useful distinction, though it is the contention of this paper that some of the artefacts excavated from below this division are of LSA association. Information pertaining to the LSA component of the site was published (van Rijssen 1992), but although the MSA component was sorted, it was neither analysed in depth nor published. Analysis conducted in 2005 and 2006 suggests the presence of a stratified sequence at Klein Kliphuis which appears to parallel part of the sequence at Diepkloof Rock Shelter some 50 km to the southwest. This paper discusses the layers at Klein Kliphuis in terms of their culture–historical affiliation, based on comparison with published data from better resolved MSA excavations elsewhere.